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Data by Cluster

A cluster is a regional concentration of related industries that arise out of the various types of linkages or externalities that span across industries in a particular location. The U.S. Benchmark Cluster Definitions are designed to enable systemic comparison across regions. View and compare clusters across the U.S.

Data by Region

A region is broadly defined as a county, economic area (EA), metro/micropolitan statistical area (MSA), or state. The U.S. Benchmark Cluster Definitions use the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis defined economic areas. View and compare regions across the U.S.

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The Community of Practice enables practitioners to share Resources, post Blogs, and find partner Organizations. View and contribute content of interest to the cluster based economic development community.

Nearly five years after the Great Recession of 2008, the road to economic recovery has been sluggish nationwide – with employment and economic activity still below levels recorded before the severe recession hit. Of particular concern is that the growth in Maine, along with that of the rest of New England, continues to lag behind even the sluggish growth of the overall U.S. recovery.

The state of Illinois is uniquely positioned as a Midwestern, national and global leader in science and technology research and development. Discover the breadth of Illinois’ innovation assets and resources by taking a tour of the Illinois Innovation Ecosystem presentation below.

The Illinois Innovation Network was established by Governor Pat Quinn in 2011 as a common platform to connect startups, innovation-driven enterprises, service providers, research and academic institutions, and community leaders to position Illinois as one of the world’s top innovation centers.

Since their inception in the 1940s, the Department of Energy (DOE) national laboratories have been in the vanguard of America’s global research and development leadership. However, the national innovation system has changed in the past 70 years. Today, much technology development and application occurs in the context of synergistic regional clusters of firms, trade associations, educational institutions, private labs, and regional economic development organizations.

In 2013–14, Harvard Business School (HBS) conducted its third alumni survey on U.S. competitiveness. Our report on the findings focuses on a troubling divergence in the American economy: large and midsize firms have rallied strongly from the Great Recession, and highly skilled individuals are prospering. But middle and working-class citizens are struggling, as are small businesses. We argue that such a divergence is unsustainable, explore its root causes, and examine actions that might mitigate it. We ask in particular, how can we create a U.S.

The ability of small businesses to drive innovation is critical to U.S. competitiveness. In recognition of the invaluable role small businesses play in the United States innovation ecosystem, the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) launched the Regional Innovation Cluster (RIC) Initiative in September 2010. This initiative promotes and supports industry clusters—geographically concentrated groups of interconnected businesses, suppliers, service providers, and related institutions in a particular industry or field—that have been associated with increased regional economic growth.

Small businesses are core to America’s economic competitiveness. Not only do they employ half of the nation’s private sector workforce – about 120 million people – but since 1995 they have created approximately two‐thirds of the net new jobs in our country. Yet in recent years, small businesses have been slow to recover from a recession and credit crisis that hit them especially hard. This lag has prompted the question, “Is there a credit gap in small business lending?”

The California Employment Development Department's Labor Market Information Division has produced a series of products titled "Regional Economic Analysis Profiles" to help target clusters for investment in the fields of workforce development, economic development, and education in California. The purpose of this report is to help align the state’s workforce institutions and programs around the needs of regional industry clusters.

The analysis presented in this Comprehensive Economic Development Strategy (CEDS) provides a detailed profile of Lander County, including the two primary urban areas of Battle Mountain and the Austin/Kingston area, in the current time frame, primarily from 2000 and 2010 U.S. Census Bureau data, as background to the Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats (SWOT) analysis. In addition to U.S. Census Bureau data, data from various state and other federal sources were used and incorporated into the demographic and economic analysis of Lander County.

In works such as Glaeser (2011) and Porter (1995), prominent economists have suggested that metropolitan areas are the key to economic growth. In this article, we examine the economic development strategies and performance of the largest metropolitan areas in the five states of the Seventh Federal Reserve District—Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, and Wisconsin. The cities, from smallest to largest by metro population, are: Des Moines, Indianapolis, Milwaukee, Detroit, and Chicago.

A growing number of states are recognizing the importance of evaluating their economic development tax incentives. For example, lawmakers in Indiana, Mississippi, and Rhode Island have recently enacted legislation to ensure their states take three key steps to regularly review and analyze these programs.